


Something Like Friendship

by LibbyWeasley



Series: The Rest Is History [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Academy Era, Back to the Future Au, Friendship, Gen, Palentine's Day 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22962976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibbyWeasley/pseuds/LibbyWeasley
Summary: Fitz's POV of his developing friendship with Max. A missing moment from The Rest Is History.
Relationships: Leo Fitz & Original Character(s)
Series: The Rest Is History [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1650196
Comments: 8
Kudos: 8
Collections: Palentine's Day 2020





	Something Like Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> Nothing like waiting until the last minute to work on my Palentine's Day fic...but I finally had an idea I was excited about. This is a friendship fic between Max FitzSimmons and Leo Fitz in the The Rest Is History verse. It is also a missing moment for Earth vs. Space's Something Extra Challenge. I have another chapter of The Rest Is History written so there will be more of this verse coming soon-ish.
> 
> The fic fits somewhere in chapter 4 or 5.
> 
> Thanks to @agentofship for the emergency beta :) She's the best!

Fitz glanced at his lab partner, impressed by the sure movements and evident ease with the experiment. He had really gotten lucky. Max was the best lab partner he could have imagined. After all that nonsense about being from the future and all. Of all of the pranks he could have tried to pull, that one was probably the least believable. 

His gaze drifted across the lab to land on Jemma. In his mind, at least, he always thought of her as Jemma, though that suggested a sort of intimacy they didn’t actually share in real life. He had hoped that they might be assigned together as lab partners and he would have time to think of something to say to her...but that hadn’t happened. For the sake of his grade -- and perhaps his sanity -- it was better that he’d been paired with Max. He was smart and capable, and didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with chatter. Much better than most of the other students in this class. Even though they all had at least one PhD, some of them were surprisingly like classmates he’d known at uni. Well, maybe not _known_. Perhaps _observed _was a better word. But this was different.__

__And it seemed that Max wanted to be friends with him too. Fitz had been surprised at first by how Max kept seeking out his company, but the more time they had spent together over the last few days, the more it seemed like he actually enjoyed talking to him. They had a lot in common. Both young and far from home -- though he wasn’t clear about exactly where Max and Evie were from, only that it was far. And they both had a strong dislike for Milton. Though Fitz hoped it was for very different reasons._ _

__“Did you want to go to the Boiler Room tonight?”_ _

__Fitz was pulled from his thoughts by Max’s voice._ _

__“Wha --”_ _

__Max gave him a small smile and shook his head before repeating the question. It wasn’t that Fitz hadn’t heard the question, more that he wasn’t sure how to answer. He hadn’t spent much time in the Boiler Room the previous semester and he wasn’t sure he could handle an evening of watching Jemma and Milton from across the room._ _

__“The Boiler Room? I don’t know…”_ _

__“C’mon, Fitz. It’ll be fun.There is a whole group going. Evie, Sally, Milton --”_ _

__Fitz held his breath._ _

__“ --Simmons.”_ _

__He looked at the hopeful look on Max’s face. He wanted to say yes. And Max was right. It would be fun._ _

__“Yeah. Sure. Should be fun. But first I have to finish working on my schematics for my engineering design class.”_ _

__“Right. The Night-Night Gun, was it?”_ _

__“Yeah,” Fitz grumbled. For some reason no one appreciated the name he’d come up with._ _

__“Is this you trying to get out of going?” Max teased._ _

__Fits shook his head. It wasn’t like the idea hadn’t crossed his mind. But he found that going out with friends suddenly sounded like a lot more fun._ _

__“No, it’s not. I really do have some work to finish.”_ _

__“Can I help?” Max said the words like it wasn’t a big thing. And maybe to him it wasn’t. But Fitz hadn’t had someone he could really talk to about science since arriving at the Academy._ _

__“Actually...I could use the help of a chemist.” Fitz let his eyes drift around the room again. “Maybe a biologist too.”_ _

__“I can help with that,” Max said quickly._ _

__Fitz raised his eyebrows in surprise._ _

__“I mean, chemistry is my field, but I’m passable with biology.” He gave a small nod, as if making up his mind about something. “You need a toxin, right? I can do that.”_ _

__Somehow he doubted that, but he found himself looking forward to an afternoon of sharing ideas. He needed that. Needed someone to help him clarify his thoughts and decide which paths were worth pursuing and which were dead ends._ _

__But four hours later as he saved the file on his laptop, he had to admit that was more progress than he’d expected to make in months...or maybe longer. Max wasn’t just a chemist, he had a way of understanding the end product of Fitz’s work in a way that Fitz envied. In addition to providing him with a very promising formula for a dendrotoxin, Max had also suggested some improvements to the design that would make the gun lighter. That could be invaluable in the field. Fitz intended to make his mark within SHIELD with the Night-Night gun. And if the field teams weren’t interested, then he was certain there was a market in the private sector._ _

__“Ready to go?” Max asked, glancing down at his watch. It was nearly 8:15, later than they’d promised to meet the rest of the group._ _

__“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go.”_ _

__“I’m sure Simmons will be happy to see you.”_ _

__“Yeah?” Fitz felt a little bit of heat rush up the back of his neck. He had tried to deny his interest in Jemma, but Max had seemed to see right through him. Hopefully it wasn’t so obvious to everyone else. “I mean, do you think so?”_ _

__“Yeah. Course. She likes you.”_ _

__Fitz scowled. He knew that wasn’t true, but he appreciated Max saying so. Just the idea that someone else knew how he felt and thought he might have a chance made him feel much better._ _

__“Not true. But thanks.”_ _

__“I can distract Milton...or get Evie to distract Milton so you can have a chance to talk to her.”_ _

__“I wouldn’t know what to say.” He couldn’t believe he was actually considering it._ _

__“Just say anything. You’re more her type than Milton is.”_ _

__A dark look crossed Max’s face._ _

__“How would you know that?”_ _

__“I just do.” He paused and then went on. “Plus, what’s the worst that can happen? Give it a try and if she completely rejects you I’ll get someone to buy us beer.”_ _

__A small smile crossed his face._ _

__He’d forgotten what it was like to have a friend._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! You can find me on tumblr @LibbyWeasley


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